Uratex owner’s sister killed by 7 kidnappers

A kidnapped Filipino-Chinese businesswoman and her police bodyguard were executed by their abductors early yesterday morning after negotiations for their release bogged down, police said.

The victims were identified as Connie Yap Wong, 52, of 32 Miller Street, Project 7, Quezon City; and PO1 Dionisio Borca Jr., 24, single, a member of the Western Police District.

Their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the head by local residents early yesterday morning on a curb along Galas street in Barangay Bignay, Valenzuela City.

Wong’s driver, Arcangel Barquilla who was also snatched, claimed the kidnappers left him unharmed after the gun of his would-be executioner malfunctioned.

Barquilla was also kidnapped last June with a niece of Wong and a third victim, but they were released upon payment of ransom.

The National Anti-Crime Commission’s Anti-Kidnapping for Ransom Task Force (NAKTAF) took Barquilla into custody for further questioning on the possibility that the crime was an inside job.

Barquilla told police investigators they were snatched by seven unidentified armed men at about 8:30 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Matutum and Mauban streets in Barangay Manresa, Quezon City

Barquilla said their vehicle, a Mitsubishi Adventure van with license plates WTJ-625, was blocked by the kidnappers’ Isuzu Hi-Lander van and a Toyota Revo with no license plates.

Barquilla said the Ilongo-speaking abductors introduced themselves as policemen, but commandeered the Adventure and sped away as they blindfolded the victims, who were subsequently taken to the gang’s hideout. Negotiations for ransom payment were made from the safehouse.

The driver said at the kidnappers’ hideout, he heard his boss talking with her relatives on the phone, apparently upon orders of their captors.

The kidnappers reportedly demanded P40 million in exchange for the release of the three victims, but the amount was reduced later to P30 million.

Having gotten no assurance that the ransom demand would be met by her family, Wong herself offered P300,000 which she was carrying at the time, but their captors flatly rejected it.

The gang eventually herded the hostages back to the vehicles and took them to Bignay, with Borca and Barquilla handcuffed together.

Barquilla said Wong and Borca were shot in the head at close range by the roadside, adding that when the executioner turned his gun on him, it jammed, and they left him unharmed.

The driver said that after the suspects fled, he dragged the bloodied Borca to a grassy spot where the policeman died. He also said the killers came back to check if they were already dead.

Police detained Barquilla for further questioning, but did not categorically say if they were eyeing him as a suspect working in cahoots with the kidnappers.

Police sources said they doubted the veracity of Barquilla’s story.

"That’s very stupid of the kidnappers if they will just leave a vital witness to their crime and walk away," the source said.

They noted that the driver’s tale on how he survived was "very questionable."

Police probers were also looking into the possibility that the kidnappers-murderers were the same group that kidnapped a boy recently. The theory developed after a cell phone the suspects used in contacting Wong’s family was found to be owned by the young victim.

The investigators added that they would also determine if Wong was insured for a big amount, and who would be the beneficiary in case of her death.

"This is quite a rare case of kidnapping wherein the victims were killed immediately," the source said.

NAKTAF chief Director Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. immediately deployed his agents to track down the kidnappers believed to be members of the so-called "Ambot Gang" led by a certain Frederick Valencia.

"We will get to the bottom of this. No stones will be left unturned. We are looking into why the victims were killed," Ebdane said.

Barquilla furnished the police vital information that led to the identification of the suspects.

The Ambot Gang was also believed to be behind last year’s abductions of Mari John Giga and Michael Ng, as well as the June 18 kidnapping of Wong’s niece, Mary Grace Cheng-Rogasas, daughter of Uratex Foam Co. owners Robert and Naty Cheng.

Wong worked as corporate secretary and collection agent of Uratex.

Second time around for Borca

Borca was also seized by the kidnappers of Rogasas at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City last June 18, along with another bodyguard-driver identified as Val Torres.

The three were freed about 15 hours later after Rogasas’ family paid P20 million in ransom without reporting the incident to authorities.

The kidnappers initially asked for P50 million, but the girl’s parents were able to haggle for P20 million.

The NAKTAF was created in line with President Arroyo’s directive for an all-out campaign against organized crime, notably kidnapping for ransom and drug trafficking.

NAKTAF picked up where the controversy-plagued and now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force left off.